CHAPTER 1 Destination Geography

CHAPTER 1

Destination Geography

■ ResourcesTravel companies are always seeking more efficient ways of doing business, particularly relating to technology. Increasing online presence is due in large part to the necessity to be in front of consumers, wherever and whenever they want information that might lead to a product sale.

AccommodationsSome sites list rates and specials; others have pictures and booking information. Although not a reference source for booking accommodations, the American Hotel & Lodging Association is the trade association that represents the interests of the lodging industry. It provides information and support to its membership throughout the world.

American Hotel & Lodging Associationwww.ahla.com

Air TravelAs well as being in the trade’s Global Distribution Systems (GDSs), airlines host Web sites available to the consumer. Sites with background information that you might like to visit are:

Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC)www.arccorp.com

Guide to airports and 3-letter codeswww.quickaid.com

International Air Transport Association (IATA)www.iatan.org

U.S. Department of Transportationwww.transporation.gov

Chapter 1: Destination Geography 1

2 Exploring the World Student Workbook

CruisesThe cruise product continues to grow despite the world’s economic and political problems. The product’s flexibility is one of its big business advantages. Companies can move their products (ships) to avoid geopolitical hot spots and reroute them to calmer seas, perhaps to ports in Alaska, the Caribbean, or South America. There also has been an increase in “home-porting,” which means ships originating from local ports instead of sailings from one port only. This attracts passengers who prefer to drive to the embarkation point instead of having to fly.

Visit Cruise Lines International (CLIA) at www.cruising.org for a list of the major cruise lines.

Cruise line Web sites are listed in the Chapter 6 (Bermuda and the West Indies) resources box. Companies that specialize in one or two destinations only, such as river cruisers, are listed in appropriate chapters.

Currency Questions and Travel InsuranceInformation about travel insurance, tipping, and currency conversion is available from:

Currency exchangewww.xe.com

Travel insurancewww.allianztravelinsurance.comwww.travelguard.com

Destination InformationWeb sites with destination information are:

Amusement parkswww.iaapa.org

Condé Nast Travelerwww.cntraveler.com

Fodor’s Guideswww.fodors.com

Frommer’s Guideswww.frommers.com

Lonely Planet Guideswww.lonelyplanet.com

Michelin Guideswww.travelmichelin.com

Moon Travel Handbookswww.moon.com

National Geographicwww.nationalgeographic.com

National Geographic Travelerwww.nationalgeographic.com/traveler

Special interest travel


www.specialtytravel.com

Travel and Leisurewww.travelandleisure.com

World Travel Guidewww.wtgonline.com

Zagat Guideswww.zagat.com

Destination information is also available from trade associations that represent their member countries. They are:

African Travel Associationwww.africa-ata.org

Caribbean Tourism Organizationwww.onecaribbean.org

European Travel Commissionwww.visiteurope.com

Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA)www.pata.org

EventsTravelers often want to link their trips to a special event. For listings, you might try:

The World’s Best Festivalswww.fest300.com

Events listed by date, location, typewww.eventsworldwide.com

Guide to North American fairswww.westernfairs.org

Government ResourcesWhen questions involve safety, health, or customs and documentation regulations, travelers need reliable answers. U.S. government sources for information on health and safety are:

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)www.cdc.gov/travel

Duty-free allowanceswww.cbp.gov/travel/international-visitors/kbyg/customers-duty-infoFederal Aviation Administrationwww.faa.gov

U.S. National Parks (alphabetical lists of parks with links to each park and photos)www.nps.gov

U.S. Passport Officewww.travel.state.gov


World Health Organization (a U.N. agency) www.who.ch

At www.travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings.html, the State Department provides:

1. Consular information sheets for each foreign country, with information about health, crime, and safety considerations. Consular information sheets are strictly factual and contain no advice on whether a traveler should or should not visit a country.

2. Public announcements issued when temporary conditions in a country create a security risk that might make someone think twice about going. Examples are terrorist threats, political demonstrations, anniversary dates of bombings, and events such as earthquakes. Public announcements have expiration dates and often are confined to a particular part of a country.

3. Travel warnings, the strongest type of release, are issued when the State Department recommends avoiding a country.

MapsThe National Geographic Society (nationalgeographic.com) and publisher Rand McNally (www.randmcnally.com) provide maps online. Other handy sites include mapquest.com and freetrip.com.

Remember to credit the source if you print out a map (or get permission in writing if you intend to duplicate a map in any sales literature). Reproducing a map for anything but personal or educational purposes violates copyright laws.

Road TravelWeb sites make it easy to compare rates and reserve a rental car anywhere in the world. You might want to begin your search with one of the online travel agencies. After you have found the best rate, check the car rental company’s own site to see if there are any specials or other savings.

SportsFor information about when and where events are scheduled or where to go to participate in a favorite sport, contact:

Baseball—major leagueswww.mlb.com

Basketball—National Basketball Associationwww.nba.com

Bicycle tourswww.backroads.com

Diving—Association of Diving Instructors (PADI)www.padi.com

Golf—United States Golf Association (USGA)www.usga.org


Hiking—American Hiking Societywww.americanhiking.org

Ice hockey—National Hockey Leaguewww.nhl.com

Nature—the Sierra Clubwww.sierraclub.org/outings

Ski resortswww.onthesnow/ski-resort.html

Tennis—U.S. Tennis Associationwww.usta.com

TimeDo time zone changes confuse you? The Internet provides help so that vacationers do not call home at 0200 or when everyone has gone to work. Try:

Local time providerwww.worldtimeserver.com

Time zone converterwww.timezoneconverter.com

ToursRegional and national tour operators are plentiful on the Web. Local tour operators are American Sightseeing International and Grayline Tours. The United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) and NTA are trade associations representing international and domestic tour operators:

American Sightseeing International www.sightseeing.com

Grayline Tourswww.grayline.com

United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA)www.ustoa.com

WeatherYou can get 3- to 5-day forecasts for almost any place on earth from:

CNN weather forecastswww.cnn.com/weather

Forecastswww.accuweather.com

Hurricane trackingwww.fema.gov

National Weather Servicewww.nws.noaa.gov


The Weather Channelwww.weather.com

Using InformationAfter you have found information, you must judge its usefulness. Factors to consider are:

■ Date. If you are doing research in rapidly changing areas such as price, schedule, or availability, you need an electronic resource. Be sure to check a site’s posting date; some remain unchanged for a long time.

■ Authoritativeness. Is the information correct? It may be wise to check facts with a second source.

■ Bias. Does the information have any apparent bias? It would be a rare travel supplier, publication, tour operator, tourist board, hotel, convention and visitors’ center, or restaurant site that mentions anything negative.


Worksheet 1.1: Geography

Name Date

Directions: Answer the questions in the space provided. Answers can be found in your textbook or on a map.

1. What does the word geography mean to you? How do you think knowledge of destination geography will benefit you as a travel professional?

2. How do cartographers shape our world?

3. What do geographers need to know about places on the earth?

4. Are lines of longitude and latitude all the same length?

5. What is a hemisphere? Which one do you live in?

6. How does a GPS unit know where you are?

7. What does the map’s scale tell you?

8. Why are varying colors on a map sometimes used?

9. Which is the largest continent?


10. What legal implications does the location of a country’s continental shelf have for the cruise industry?

11. What is an archipelago? Name three.

12. What is a strait? Name three.

13. Which is the world’s largest country?

14. Name the four major oceans?

15. How does elevation affect climate?

16. What is the jet stream? How does it affect an airplane’s flight?

17. How do you convert Fahrenheit to Celsius?

18. What is a rain forest? Where are most located?

19. What is a desert? Name three.

20. Name two barriers to travel that create cultural misunderstandings. Why do they do so?


Worksheet 1.2: Answering Questions

Name Date

Directions: Answer each question in the space provided.

1. You are working at an airline reservations desk. The traveler asks, “How long is my flight from New York City toLos Angeles? From Los Angeles back to New York City? Why is there a difference?” How would you answer?

2. A client asks you, “What guidebook would you recommend for my trip to England?” What would you suggest andwhy?


Worksheet 1.3: Using Reference Materials

Name Date

Directions: Using available resources, answer the questions in the space provided. Indicate in your answer what resources you used.

1. What reference source would you consult to determine the health hazards of a trip to the Brazilian rain forest? Did the resource suggest any precautions? If so, what?

2. You need to know the documentation requirements for travel to Australia. Where would you look? What did you find out?

3. What will the weather be like for a cruise around the Horn of South America in March?

4. Ms. Te Kauri wants to know if her health insurance will cover her when she goes bungee-jumping on her New Zealand vacation. What do you tell her?

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Worksheet 1.4: Map Review

Name Date

Directions: Using the map on the preceding page, answer the following questions.

1. What is the map’s scale?

2. What feature on the map indicates its directional orientation?

3. Most people are familiar with the equator, but where would you be if you were at a latitude of 23.5° north of the equator, the farthest point at which the sun can be seen directly overhead at noon?

4. If you were to fly due west from Ireland to North America, you would reach the lower region of Hudson Bay in Canada, which is on the same latitude as Ireland. Why, then, is Ireland’s climate so mild?

5. Name the mountain range that serves as a boundary between Europe and northern Asia.

6. The Appalachian Mountain Range is the principal mountain landform on North America’s East Coast. Which mountain range is the West Coast’s principal landform?

7. Which continent is the only one with land in all four hemispheres?

8. Which is the only continent other than Antarctica that does not extend into the tropics?

9. How many degrees of longitude would you cross to travel halfway around the world?

10. The equator is to latitude as which of the following is to longitude?A. Tropic of CancerB. Tropic of CapricornC. International date lineD. Prime meridian


Worksheet 1.5: Looking Back: A Chapter Quiz

Name Date

Directions: Answer the questions in the space provided.

1. What is the shortest, most direct route between any two points on the surface of the earth?

2. Convert the following times from am and pm to the 24-hour clock.

A. 1:20 pm ________________ C. 10:30 am ________________

B. 8:08 am ________________ D. 11:59 pm ________________

3. Convert the following times from the 24-hour clock to am and pm.

A. 1306 ________________ C. 0800 ________________

B. 1845 ________________ D. 2347 ________________

4. You need to contact a hotel in Vienna, Austria (GMT + 2). What time should you make a phone call to be assured that the hotel’s reservations office will receive your call about 10:00 am Vienna time?

5. If it rains on your golf game in Hawaii, is the cause climate or weather?

6. Why would a destination near the equator require a visitor to bring a heavy sweater?

7. Match each term with the correct definition. Write the definition’s letter in the blank at the left of each term.

________________ tropics A. Cold or warm rivers of sea water.

________________ rain shadow B. Latitudes between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

________________ trade winds C. The dry area on the leeward side of a mountain.

________________ westerlies D. Constant winds that blow from the northeast toward the equator in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast toward the equator in the Southern Hemisphere.

________________ ocean currents E. Currents of air high above the earth, blowing from the southwest in the Northern Hemisphere and from the northwest in the Southern Hemisphere.

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CHAPTER 1 Destination Geography